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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Session XIX: Dark Shadows

In our last session our players were a bit more, how shall I say, riotous than in previous....and that is saying quite a bit. We were only missing one player so the table was pretty full. It was challenging to keep the action moving along, to say the least! Only three rooms explored and one large battle.

I think Mike put it best:

The party joined together and further investigated the ruins whilst Teabag watched the cart.

(tons of bad stuff he cant reprint)

They find a strange room with a dark area.

(tons of bad stuff he cant reprint)

They fight some stuff.

(tons of bad stuff he cant reprint)

They find the Crimson Skull.

(tons of bad stuff he cant reprint)

Seriously it was the raunchiest one yet.....

Yeah, that was pretty much it.

Alas...I press on and try to bring you the more 'embellished' summary that I know you're all use to. So without further ado...

Session XIX: Dark Shadows

So while the majority of the party was exploring the ruined temple, Geedleesmote the dwarf, Adara the Stygian ranger and Slick Vinny the enchanter gathered their camp together and followed the trail blazed by their companions.

Regrouping at the entrance to the ancient temple, it was decided that Tibag would stay behind and watch-over the gear, the two mules and Wolfheir's horse. The rest of the party, once again, entered the dark temple in search of the Crimson Skull of Yam-Gregak.

Retracing their steps past the slain clerics they proceeded down the first flight of stairs. Finding a door, they opened it and discovered a silver skull upon a heavy mahogany base. Fearing that the skull may be trapped, Adara and Skwanky cautiously entered the room and examined the skull. Geedlee, however, was more interested in the wooden base and what may lie beneath.

After quite a bit of maneuvering, the skull was finally removed and the base pushed aside to reveal nothing of interest.

Continuing down the hall they discover another door and a turn in the passage. Finding the door locked and without Tibag, their skillful lock-smith, Skwanky the halfling warrior attempted to bash the door down with his mace. Eventually, with the help the Wolfheir the Viking they cracked open the door enough to squeeze through

Inside they found an empty room. Geedleesmote began to examine the walls of this so-called empty chamber while Skwanky, Gnarly (along with his remaining mushroom-man) and Nadrak guarded the hallway. The dwarf discovered a fist sized hole in the wall. Reaching in, he found a lever that he found can turn either to the right or left. Geedleesmote turned the lever to the left and, leaping back, narrowly avoided a puff of mysterious gas. Turning the dial to the right revealed a narrow opening in the wall to a small chamber beyond. Inside the small chamber was a small pile of glorious items; some scrolls, a ring (which Slick Vinny quickly snatched up) and a sword.

While the group in the chamber decided how to divide the found spoils, an impatient Skwanky quickly worked his way down the passage and found some more descending stairs. Gnarly and Nadrak pursued the inquisitive halfling as he disappeared down the stairs. Skwanky found himself in a vary large pillared chamber lit by torches save the opposite wall which was obscured in darkness. Chained to a pillar was a vicious looking dog with fiery red eyes. As the Druid and the Priest of Mithra ran down the stairs they observed a puff of flame and the charred halfling battling this demon hound! Gnarly and Nadrak tried to aid their tiny companion as the rest of the party caught up.

Running into the chamber, Slick Vinny pulled out a magic wand and turned the Hound of Hell to stone.

The beast defeated and the party together once again, they decided to cautiously examine the room. Wolf, failing to hinder the energetic halfling, watched as Skwanky bolted towards the darkness in the opposite side of the room, . The Halfling disappeared into the darkness and quickly ran into something hard.

As Skwanky entered the darkness, from the rafters above, two gargoyles dove down onto the party. A quick thinking Vinny entangled one of the flying horrors in a web spell while the party began to battle the other. Meanwhile, the halfling recovering from is run-in with some kind of wall, feels icy hands reach out and touch him sapping his strength. Skwanky came running out of the wall of darkness into the ensuing melee being chased by two living Shadows!

The Shadows and the remaining Gargoyle put up quite a fight with the Shadows bringing the halfling once again to the brink of death and wounding the Dwarf as well - normal weapons being of no use to any of these foes.

As Skwanky lay dying, Nadrak rushed over and healed the halfling returning him from the edge of the abyss once again. The battle continued as Adara worked her way to the darkened portion of the room. Eventually the Gargoyle and the two Shadows were defeated. When the last Shadow fell, the darkness in the back of the room lifted and revealed an alter atop of which was the Crimson Skull of Yam-Gregak!

Adara picked up the magical artifact but no sooner was the Skull in their hands when, coming down the steps was a heavily armored figure, The Dark priest of the Black Church. Slick Vinny tried to enchant the powerful priest but failed. The priest, however, put Slick Vinny out of commission by immobilizing the wizard and rooting him to that spot.

Wolfheir rushed up to confront the priest as did Nadrak and Gnarly. A melee battle ensued which involved the entire party and the Mushroom-man before the priest was defeated and killed.

Sorry Garnett, we've got a full table right now, 7 players plus GM. I don't think we can even fit another body in the room. If you're looking for just getting into some general RPGing, Tucson has a pretty good RPG meet-up - a good community of people. http://www.meetup.com/TucsonRPG/

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I grew up with comics and got into D&D with Holmes Basic back in '78. I loved the game back then and played Champions, Top Secret, and tons of other games by SPI and Avalon Hill. Got out of gaming in the mid 80's and haven't played since. After Gary passed I discovered the Retro Clones and really got into the whole grass-roots DIY vibe. I have a sandbox campaign going since 2009 using Swords & Wizardry and some House Rules.